I’ve been really involved in the process of this shoe since the beginning, almost two years ago. Two years is a long time. A lot of people have been talking about the shoe and anticipating it for a long time. I definitely felt the pressure. I’ve heard some feedback along the way from the guys who wear-tested it for a while, and I’d always ask them every question possible, like, “Are you sure it’s okay? Are you sure don’t feel like this about it?” The responses were always good, but I wanted to be sure.

At the end of the day, I’m a skateboarder. Skateboarding is my job. A lot of people don’t think about it that way — and it’s the best job to possibly have — but it’s still a job. I feel like I’ve gotten pretty used to being watched, to being on camera. And for every contest and competition, I just want to go out there and do my best. Working on this shoe was no different.

When the OFF WHITE x Air Jordan 1 drops this weekend on March 3, only a select few European retailers will play host to the widely desired style. Those retail destinations were revealed today.

15 stores in total appear on the curated list, including some of the most noteworthy and high-end retailers in their respective regions. The newly opened Jordan Bastille brick and mortar comes as no surprise, while other spots like Patta, Solebox and Sneakersnstuff all make sense given their history and prestige.

Peep the full store listing for the OFF WHITE x Air Jordan 1 “White” below.

Anhia Santana, also known as Distortedd, is one visual artist who’s actively bringing pop culture art to new heights.

With her keen taste for psychedelic interpretations and tasteful reworks, Santana has seen her work featured by likes of The Fader and MILK Magazine, shared by artists like Erykah Badu and DJ Khaled, and even pack out multi purpose venues — seen most recently by her Bape-inspired D.O.M. gallery event in Los Angeles.

The coolest part for us? She also serves as a front-runner when it comes to women’s street wear and urban fashion.

Between being a mother, planning a U.S. wide “Paint n’ Sip” tour and dating lyrical artist MadeinTyo — life can be a bit crazy. Despite al that, we caught up with the young artist in the middle of it all to take a break from the rush and talk sneakers.

Gucci Ace

Distortedd: I really love designer shoes and I like these because they’re more like sneakers than most designer shoes. I have the ones with the blue platform. I like these specifically for their whole pattern — you know, the traditional Gucci print? I love how they’re covered in that entire pattern. I like shoes that you can just throw on, you know? And these are definitely a pair of shoes that I can just throw on. They are so chill, like they aren’t doing too much. Most designer shoes do too much. You can just wear them to go out somewhere, even to the mall or wherever.

The Aces with the bees or the snakes, or the flames — those are too much! I don’t like those! Like, yeah, I’d wear them but I would be over them after one wear. The ones that I have with the all-over print, those are just so classic. They will never get old.

Nike Air Max 95 LX “Gunsmoke”

Honestly, it’s always been Nike for me, I don’t really wear any of that other stuff.

Distortedd: These are so popping overseas — I love it. I love how Nike is coming out with all the new colorways, too. Those look so dope. These are my favorite pair of the 95s actually, with the grey velvet! They just look really cool, the way the grey looks and how they go with so many fits. I really like the Air Max 95s because of the comfort and the platforms they have at the bottom of the shoes — the bubble!

Vans Sk8-Hi

Distortedd: I don’t really like the low-tops like that. I like to wear skirts and stuff and sometimes I’ll dress girly. The Sk8-His really just go with anything. They look really nice, especially with skirts and dresses. I used to play around with skating, I was never really good at it though. [Laughs]

Nike Air Max 97 “Metallic Gold”

Honestly the whole look of the Air Max 95s and 97s are so smooth.

Distortedd: I actually fuck with Nike a lot. They show me a lot of love, too. They’ll send me sneakers from time to time. Nike actually just recently sent me this pair of Air Max 97s! I love them because they remind me of the recent collab they did with Sean Wotherspoon — those are hard, too. Honestly the whole look of the Air Max 95s and 97s are so smooth. I really enjoy wearing these.

Nike Air Force 1 Low

Distortedd: I love the lower platform on the AF1s — I also really try to rock as many retro AF1s as possible. Air Forces are seriously one of the best go-to sneakers for me, because they just go with any outfit. The all-white is just a must have at all times. Also the the new hightop SF-AF1 Highs with the extra straps — those are really cool. I have those in black and tan. I just don’t wear them very often because I don’t like to wear my shoes down to the point where they look ruined. I like to save them to wear a couple years from now so I can wear them again later, you know?

Keep up with Distortedd via Instagram and Twitter, and keep an eye out for upcoming announcements regarding her Big-City Only “Paint n’ Sip” tour — coming soon!

Hot on the heels of a Black/White drop, Nike introduces more colorways of the Air Max 270s. The recently surfaced model shows a flashier outfit. Magenta can be seen on understated logo work and a outsized rubber heel — the color runs down to the outsole crating an all pink bottom. Elsewhere, a faint "270" is embossed on the heel. Gold laces and trim outline the upper, while a metallic silver Swoosh logo adorns the toe.

Look out for the Nike Air Max 270 Magenta and Gold sneaker slated to release March 2 on Nike.com and select retailers priced at its usual $150 USD.

Wakanda, the fictional African nation at the heart of Marvel Studios’ Black Panther, is a dazzling, technological utopia chock-full of science fiction gadgets and gizmos to make gearheads go gaga. What I didn’t expect, though, when settling into the seat of my Brooklyn theater last Saturday, was for the transportation-nerd parts of my brain to be so thoroughly tickled. Black Panther is a transit buff’s dream come true, with an array of cool planes, trains, and cars — and just a dash of reality to ensure these Afrofuturist dreams maintain some believability. (Spoilers ahead.)

Our first glance at the Golden City, Wakanda’s capital, is when King T’Challa’s airship pushes past the holographic camouflage that keeps the nation hidden from prying outsiders. High-rise skyscrapers, dotted with aerial gardens and parks, loom over low-slung commercial corridors where street life bustles. Vibranium-powered streetcars hover through the trendy neighborhood of Steptown, as a magnetic-levitation train is seen in the distance, zipping along an elevated track. Mind you, this isn’t a hyperloop, as it lacks a vacuum-sealed tube through which to travel. But the city’s transit system is faster than most conventional trains, thanks to some very real-world technology.

Black Panther is a transit buff’s dream come true

Black Panther explains that the trains run on magnetic levitation, or maglev, through some dialogue between Shuri, T’Challa’s inventive genius sister (Letitia Wright), and CIA agent Everett Ross (Martin Freeman). Halfway through the film, Freeman is taken underground, into the heart of Wakanda’s Vibranium mine, where the fictional element that powers most of the nation’s technological marvels is extracted and transported along a subterranean maglev train.

Director Ryan Coogler, who grew up in Oakland, California, used the beleaguered Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) trains as an inspiration for Steptown’s streetcar, according to production designer Hannah Beachler in an interview with Wired. We can assume that Vibranium makes these trains exponentially more efficient than BART, which is plagued by financial and performance problems.

Image: Marvel Studios

Before the movie’s climatic battle atop those magnetically powered tracks, Shuri explains that a network of “sonic dampeners” are used to absorb the vibrations from Vibranium-loaded trains, allowing them to be transported at such high speeds without any of the kinetic blowback that T’Challa’s Black Panther suit can also deliver. It’s a fictional technology that’s also put to use by the villainous Ulysses Klaue, through a sonic cannon embedded in his robotic arm, which he uses to wreak havoc on the streets of South Korea.

In the real world, maglev trains aren’t quite as efficient as they are in the world of Black Panther. The technology underpinning maglev has been around since the 1960s, but we didn’t get our first maglev trains until the 1980s, and the first high-speed versions didn’t arrive until the early 2000s.

The trains work by using magnetic poles to repel and propel a train to incredible speeds. Thanks to a frictionless design, maglev trains go much faster than traditional ones, with much less turbulence along the way. The hyperloop aims to remove even more friction from the equation, propelling electromagnetically powered pods through an airless tube at theoretical speeds of up to 760 mph.

There’s a reason American audiences are more likely to see these trains as science fiction than European or Asian audiences: while countries like Japan and Germany have maglev trains in operation, the technology has yet to make its way to North America. Japan’s Chuo Shinkansen, for example, is the world’s fastest train, traveling at a max speed of 375 mph. The country is expected to highlight its maglev trains during the 2020 Summer Olympics.

wow there’s nothing quite like experiencing a technologically advanced Wakanda only to come back to reality and experience a broken ass transit system underground in between stations overheating with no service @MTA it’s truly remarkable wow #blessed

But despite decades in operation, maglev has been kind of a disappointment. Traditional high-speed rail is just as fast, is cheaper to build, and can connect to existing rail systems, whereas maglev guideways cannot. For countries with established rail networks, the billions of dollars to build a maglev system is hard to justify.

But that hasn’t stopped some cities from chasing the maglev fever dream. A proposal to connect Washington, DC and Baltimore via a maglev train is gathering momentum, with officials recently settling on two possible routes that could reduce trip time from 45 minutes to a mere 15 minutes. Still, the US isn’t a benevolent monarchy like Wakanda, and the Trump administration’s recent infrastructure proposal relies mostly on leveraging private dollars to pay for new roads and bridges than infusing public-works projects with taxpayer cash. Maglev without federal cash is a nonstarter.

remote-operated cars and planes via holographic cockpits

The movie touches on other far-out transportation ideas, like remote-operated cars and planes via holographic cockpits. The real-world equivalent would be military-grade drones piloted from across the globe, which have been in use since the mid-1990s. But the scene where Black Panther rides atop a driverless Lexus through the streets of South Korea, while his sister Shuri does the driving from a Vibranium-powered holograph back in Wakanda, reminded me of something that was seen recently at CES. There, a company called Phantom Auto demonstrated teleoperation technology that allows an engineer in Mountain View, California to remotely drive a Lincoln MKZ down the streets of Las Vegas.

Autonomous driving experts aren’t convinced that teleoperation is feasible, thanks to latency issues that delay the delivery of data packets from one end of a wireless connection to another. Phantom Auto thinks it has a solution, but most self-driving car designers have dismissed remote operation as unworkable.

The hyperloop movement seems to offer the best possible path forward for people who want to live out their Wakandan dreams in America. Virgin Hyperloop One is currently testing the ultrafast technology in the desert outside Las Vegas, while Elon Musk has received tacit approval from regulators to begin exploring an underground hyperloop between New York City and Washington.

But Musk is more of a Tony Stark type than a T’Challa. And the only hint of Vibranium to be found on this side of the silver screen is in a press release by a financially questionable hyperloop company, which claims to have developed a new type of reinforced carbon fiber named after the mythical substance. It’s a bit of magical thinking from a marketing department, but it still leaves us feeling far from this imagined future.

As we’re patiently waiting for the upcoming all-white Virgil Abloh x Nike Air Jordan 1 to drop, we thought we’d remind you that last year’s “The Ten” collection is still available to be bought – albeit at inflated resale prices – at various retailers online.

The Virgil Abloh-designed collection was the most hyped collaboration to drop of that scale ever, with resale for most of the silhouettes rising exponentially. The fact that Abloh and Nike decided to collaborate on no less than ten different silhouettes meant that there was something for every type of sneakerhead.

Whether that was the basketball performance React HyperDunk or the old-school classic Air Max 90, “The Ten” was a collaboration that got everyone excited.

If you missed out, which a lot of people did due to the limited nature of the release, scroll through each of the silhouettes below and let us know in the comments if you scoop any for resale.

And if you missed out on Virgil Abloh’s other recent Nike collaborations, look no further than here.

To stay informed about new releases, be sure to follow Highsnobiety on Twitter, and Instagram, as well as our sneaker chatbot on Facebook to receive lightning quick updates on release dates, sneaker street style, shopping tips and more.

Our designated shopping section features products that we love and want to share with you. Highsnobiety has affiliate marketing partnerships, which means we may receive a commission from your purchase.

Back in early December, we caught wind of the Air Jordan 1 Retro High OG “Game Royal,” which was rumored to make its comeback sometime in early 2018. With a firm release date now scheduled for next month, we thought this an ideal time to revisit the basketball-turned-lifestyle classic.

The uppers feature a premium leather construction, with “Game Royal” overlays mixing in with white found on the toe and side panel areas, while black makes its way onto the side Swoosh and ankle collar. Set to retail for $160 USD, you can look for the Air Jordan 1 Retro High OG “Game Royal” online and at select Jordan Brand retailers come March 24.

Marc Dolce, adidas’s Vice President and Creative Director just offered loyal followers a look into the “Future of Basketball,” with the teasing of a brand new, Futurecraft 4D basketball sneaker.

There seems to be very little information circulating around the newly-surfaced silhouette, but what can be ascertained from the image above is that it will call on the brand’s innovative Futurecraft technology to make up the bulk of its design. Featuring a 4D sole and a completely knitted upper, many sneaker aficionados have been left wondering if a sneaker of this calibre matches the support requirements of nearly all professional players.

Be sure to stay locked in to Highsnobiety, as we will be sure to post any and all updates as we receive them. In the meantime, check out the original LinkedIn post here.

In a recent interview with Rap-Up, Birdman shared the news that Lil Wayne‘s anticipated Tha Carter V album is going to drop this year. “Without a doubt. You will get [the album] this year,” he explains, adding, “It’s gonna be well worth the wait.”

Birdman continued, “He is the best ever to me. A lot of success coming from under his umbrella.” Baby thinks that Tha Carter V will be “the biggest album of 2018.”

Lil Wayne and Birdman’s relationship has fractured over the last few years, beginning when Weezy went on Twitter in December 2014 and shared that he is a "prisoner" to Cash Money and called out Birdman for stalling Carter V‘s release. The album has been teased since July 2012 and has been pushed back and delayed for years, supposedly by Birdman.

In January 2015, Wayne filed a $51 million USD lawsuit against Baby’s Cash Money label, claiming that the label has held back the money he’s owed for Tha Carter V. Birdman is currently promoting his new Apple Music documentary Before Anythang: The Cash Money Story, a film about the rise of the label.

In a recent interview with Rap-Up, Birdman shared the news that Lil Wayne‘s anticipated Tha Carter V album is going to drop this year. “Without a doubt. You will get [the album] this year,” he explains, adding, “It’s gonna be well worth the wait.”

Birdman continued, “He is the best ever to me. A lot of success coming from under his umbrella.” Baby thinks that Tha Carter V will be “the biggest album of 2018.”

Lil Wayne and Birdman’s relationship has fractured over the last few years, beginning when Weezy went on Twitter in December 2014 and shared that he is a "prisoner" to Cash Money and called out Birdman for stalling Carter V‘s release. The album has been teased since July 2012 and has been pushed back and delayed for years, supposedly by Birdman.

In January 2015, Wayne filed a $51 million USD lawsuit against Baby’s Cash Money label, claiming that the label has held back the money he’s owed for Tha Carter V. Birdman is currently promoting his new Apple Music documentary Before Anythang: The Cash Money Story, a film about the rise of the label.

In a recent interview with Rap-Up, Birdman shared the news that Lil Wayne‘s anticipated Tha Carter V album is going to drop this year. “Without a doubt. You will get [the album] this year,” he explains, adding, “It’s gonna be well worth the wait.”

Birdman continued, “He is the best ever to me. A lot of success coming from under his umbrella.” Baby thinks that Tha Carter V will be “the biggest album of 2018.”

Lil Wayne and Birdman’s relationship has fractured over the last few years, beginning when Weezy went on Twitter in December 2014 and shared that he is a "prisoner" to Cash Money and called out Birdman for stalling Carter V‘s release. The album has been teased since July 2012 and has been pushed back and delayed for years, supposedly by Birdman.

In January 2015, Wayne filed a $51 million USD lawsuit against Baby’s Cash Money label, claiming that the label has held back the money he’s owed for Tha Carter V. Birdman is currently promoting his new Apple Music documentary Before Anythang: The Cash Money Story, a film about the rise of the label.

In a recent interview with Rap-Up, Birdman shared the news that Lil Wayne‘s anticipated Tha Carter V album is going to drop this year. “Without a doubt. You will get [the album] this year,” he explains, adding, “It’s gonna be well worth the wait.”

Birdman continued, “He is the best ever to me. A lot of success coming from under his umbrella.” Baby thinks that Tha Carter V will be “the biggest album of 2018.”

Lil Wayne and Birdman’s relationship has fractured over the last few years, beginning when Weezy went on Twitter in December 2014 and shared that he is a "prisoner" to Cash Money and called out Birdman for stalling Carter V‘s release. The album has been teased since July 2012 and has been pushed back and delayed for years, supposedly by Birdman.

In January 2015, Wayne filed a $51 million USD lawsuit against Baby’s Cash Money label, claiming that the label has held back the money he’s owed for Tha Carter V. Birdman is currently promoting his new Apple Music documentary Before Anythang: The Cash Money Story, a film about the rise of the label.

In a recent interview with Rap-Up, Birdman shared the news that Lil Wayne‘s anticipated Tha Carter V album is going to drop this year. “Without a doubt. You will get [the album] this year,” he explains, adding, “It’s gonna be well worth the wait.”

Birdman continued, “He is the best ever to me. A lot of success coming from under his umbrella.” Baby thinks that Tha Carter V will be “the biggest album of 2018.”

Lil Wayne and Birdman’s relationship has fractured over the last few years, beginning when Weezy went on Twitter in December 2014 and shared that he is a "prisoner" to Cash Money and called out Birdman for stalling Carter V‘s release. The album has been teased since July 2012 and has been pushed back and delayed for years, supposedly by Birdman.

In January 2015, Wayne filed a $51 million USD lawsuit against Baby’s Cash Money label, claiming that the label has held back the money he’s owed for Tha Carter V. Birdman is currently promoting his new Apple Music documentary Before Anythang: The Cash Money Story, a film about the rise of the label.

Netflix has unveiled the lead trailer for its forthcoming ’80s hip-hop biopic Roxanne Roxanne. Based on the rise of Queens rap icon Roxanne Shante, Roxanne Roxanne received some serious critical acclaim and attention at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.

You can check out the new trailer for Netflix’s Roxanne Roxanne above, and expect the movie to hit the streaming service on March 23. Earlier this week, Netflix also released new teasers for the Jared Leto flick The Outsider and a Lost in Space reboot.

A constant fixture at New York Knicks games and marquee NBA events, Spike Lee knows everyone and has connections literally everywhere. That obviously includes Jordan Brand as the award winning film maker was seen wearing a seemingly one-of-one version of the Air Jordan 1 Reimagined at All-Star Weekend.

Unlike the completely white iteration of the Air Jordan 1 Remimagined, Lee’s version has the colors of the Pan-African flag colors of green, black and red. The logo for 40 Acres and a Mule, Lee’s production company, is prominently featured near the heel.

It was only a matter of time before 4D technology found comfort in the arms of adidas Y-3, one of the most progressive and influential sneaker brands of them all. Designer Yohji Yamamoto also recently made the leap into performance basketball sneakers, with his James Harden-inspired BYW BBall sneaker. Yet the modernism of 4D convergence is more in line with Yamamoto’s contemporary design penchant, making the newly revealed adidas Y-3 Runner 4D all the more welcoming.

Centered by its initial application of Digital Light Synthesis technology, forward-thinking Japanese craftsmanship and up-to-the-moment innovative couple to helm this Primeknit driven, ultra resistant silhouette of the future. Its knit base is finished with premium leather overlays and the same 4D printed midsole famously engineered for the FutureCraft 4D.

A limited run of 200 pairs of the adidas Y-3 Runner 4D will release on February 23 at select Y-3 retailers and online.

Australia’s Camp Cope are following their great 2016 self-titled debut with their anticipated sophomore album (and first for Run For Cover), How To Socialise & Make Friends, next week (3/2), but the whole thing is here to stream now. It’s possibly even better than their debut, with singer Georgia Maq railing against sexism and sexual assault in her defiant roar, over a sturdy, driving, indie-punk backdrop. It’s great stuff, and you can hear the whole thing over at NPR.

Street Style is a photo series documenting the latest happenings and goings-on in the Highsnobiety universe. Here, Eva Al Desnudo shoots attendees at Gucci‘s FW18 show in Milan.

Gucci’s headline-making FW18 show took place at the house’s Milanese headquarters yesterday. Outside the event, hordes of Gucci enthusiasts gathered, draped in pieces from the storied Italian label.

Creative director Allesandro Michele’s maximalist aesthetic was out in force with attendees showing up in colorfully bold ensembles. The brand’s work with recent Highsnobiety collaborator Coco Capitan was spotted, alongside the chunky Rhyton sneaker and a pair of sweaters featuring Michele’s own Boston terriers.

Janelle Monae tells it how she really feels in these series of emotion pictures. In support of her forthcoming album, Dirty Computer on April 21, Janelle releases two singles, followed by their choreography-filled clips. Get funky to “Make Me Feel” and put a fist in the air for “Django Jane”.